Month: March 2016

Austin was one of my students at The Melting Point and is an incredible glass artist both in lampworking and furnace work. One day in class, he had a Toledo Museum of Art tee shirt on and we started talking about it. As it turned out, he was the nice fellow who was our go-to guy at the museum when I taught there two years ago!

If you are in Sedona, Arizona, and are interested in Austin’s fabulous work (and my jewelry!), stop by The Melting Point!

For one of my Scheherazade series bead, this is what Austin made for me:

QD – Quadratische Decke Shawlwas my first adaptation of a Herbert Niebling’s pattern. Originally it was a square doily – its name, Quadratische Decke, in German isn’t really a name but a description for it literally means “square doily!”

It started with a Niebling KAL (Knit-along) on the popular fiber site, Ravelry (if you knit, crochet, weave, spin, or dye yarn and aren’t a member, check it out!) Majority of Niebling’s patterns are for doilies and/or table clothes, thus in circular, oval, or square shape. My very first lace shawl, Queen Anne’s Lace, was in a circular shape and not easy to wear as a shawl. Moreover, the old German pattern was not the most user friend, used unusual symbols in the charts, and in the case of Quadratische Decke, riddled with mistakes. So I decided to modify and rechart it into a triangular shape. In addition to changing the shape and creating easy-to-follow charts, I completely reworked the lace edge pattern so the motifs align properly. By popular demand, I published this pattern so more knitters can enjoy knitting this amazing design.

This is a class project we did a year ago. The cut card construction technique uses tension without any soldering or glue. It’s done with three pieces of 16-gauge metal cut perfectly for the stone of one’s choice. I did mine in copper and onyx. Fun project!

Very excited to release the much awaited Peony – Pfingstrose Shawl pattern today! It’s my second Herbert Niebling adaptation with a third, Blattkranz/Leaf Wreath Shawl, to be released next month. Herbert Niebling was a German doily knitter whose patterns are still very popular 50 years after his death. I started to adapt his design from circular or triangular to the more wearable deep-crescent shawl shape with Quadratische Decke – QD Shawl.

I hope that by modifying these amazing designs into a shawl with well illustrated charts and clear instructions, more knitters will discover and enjoy the magic of Niebling.

We were in Santa Monica over the weekend and did what we loved doing most – food!

Yes! This blog will include our culinary indulgence. We love to travel and instead of shopping, we enjoy local “epicurious” offerings instead.

A friend recommended Gjelina at Venice Beach. We ended up at the take-away counter – GTA – after completely missed the corner entrance to the restaurant! No matter for it was quite an experience. Sitting on a bench at a side alley with milk crates as our table, we devoured delicious sandwiches (my pork belly one is TDF) and shared a kale salad while people watched. As it turned out Gjelina had its own cookbook!

An afternoon along Abbot Kinney required a stop at Salt and Straw for some yummy fresh made ice cream – my chocolate brownie fudge is definitely worth another trip back to Southern California!

Whenever we travel, we try to research and make dinner reservations ahead for popular restaurants are normally booked up well in advance and don’t necessarily take many walk ins. Having done that, we found ourselves ready for dinner early and ended up eating at the bar of Rustic Canyon anyway. Sharing an endive salad, steak tartare, and pork shoulder main with tasty martini (our first time with Brooklyn Gin) and Vista Luna Borden Ranch Neyers Zinfadel (from St Helena by Napa!) was a perfect end to a lovely day.

I had so much fun making the foldformed bowl that I decided to make myself a cuff bracelet! I wear copper to help with the tendinitis pain on my elbows so am always looking for stylist bracelets so this will be worn often!

Again I used the same liver of sulfur method from Robyn Cornelius’ tutorial.

I ordered some copper sheets in a variety of thicknesses and found this fabulous book, Creative Metal Forming, by Betty Helen Longhi and Cynthia Eid. I see more foldforming projects in my future! 🙂